Tyler and I
“I love you” treats
I made him a smoothie the other day and told him it was an “I love you” treat. I don’t think it came out right. We were watching Mister Rogers and he was talking about all the ways that Mommies and Daddies showed us they love us. There was some cooking stuff that day, so he was talking about making your favorite food, etc. We had some leftover smoothie, so the next day, I poured some into a glass for Tyler. He looked at it and said, “I love you treat!” Then he said something that warmed my heart and made me want to cry - “I like you when you are happy, I like you when you are frustrated”. I think he was remembering that from this book called “I love you”. Anyway, he and I had a really rough two days and it was cool to hear him tell me that.
I was tired, hormonal from my once a month visitor who has been coming sporadically, and didn’t have solid plans for the day. I was to focused on what I was trying to do. At any rate, he got into mischief and I was really upset with him. I really got after him. Thank goodness for my calming corner. When I am super-pissed, it is nice to know where to send him. As opposed to just pacing and getting more angry. I went down the low road Tuesday - it was like the last straw. Hearing him say those words was like a relief, like he doesn’t just seem me as this angry Mommy.
Hugs from My Baby!
He has started to throw his arms around me and give me kiss after kiss and squeeze me so tight. I love those hugs soo much. And I am trying to make sure we hug a lot more. We always snuggle after Quinn is asleep and read books together. It is nice to have a little quiet, still time with each other. It is kind of my break. I need to focus on filling his cup and filling mine.
Child Prodigy
Look - he HAS to be! My theory is that we are going through all this now so that come 3.5 he is easy forever! Yeah, right! Tyler is the only 2.5 year old I know that has a firm grip on consumerism. He is obsessed with it. Every day he talks about going to the train store to get this and that. When we are headed to the park and talk about our plan - “we are going to get gas and then go to the park to play”, he will try to scheme a trip in there saying, “we get gas, go to train store, and then go to park and play!” He talkes about Christmas as “that one time a year, Christmas, when Tyler gets BIG trucks!” Are you kidding me? He has meltdowns about it. I swear, we do NOT buy this kid stuff all the time. We go to Target and he comes home with nothing, he goes to the train store and comes home with nothing. I don’t know whether we need to avoid those places all together or keep going and let him have these experiences - the pain of going somewhere with cool stuff and not taking any of it home. I think we are like any normal parents - sometimes we get toys and most of the time we don’t. Tantrums about it may yield some empathy, but will not net him a toy.
He does have his piggy bank. We counted his money the other day to see where he was at and he proclaims, “Now we go buy something!” We were at Ikea the other day and he took an immediate liking to this stuffed frog. He was hugging the frog and talking to it and being uber cute. As much as I wanted him to have it, we couldn’t do that. We told him that he could take it home, but that he would have to use his piggy bank money to buy it and that money would be all gone. In the end, he left the frog. We did come home with an easel for him though. I don’t know if that contradicted the lesson - although I think he had way more interest in the frog.
Of course, he just had his half birthday, so I don’t want to get him too much stuff. New toys are great for a plane trip which we are about to take in two weeks. We have bought him some new trucks in a set, but I think that is it. We are going to try books and playdough and current toys. I don’t think he is spoiled, but I just want to make sure that we aren’t creating any expectations.
See - this is the hard parenting right here. I don’t want to lean too far in any one direction - I want balance. I am trying to figure out why it is that my child is the only one of like a dozen 2.5 yr olds I know who is obsessed with this concept. Do I have a Donald Trump in the making or something? I just prefer the “he is really smart” reason - it is an easier pill to swallow.